Noella's Carreer Choice?

A funny thing happened leaving home today. Noella, out of the blue, told me, "Papa, when I grow up and I get big, I wanna fight bad guys..." Okay, so nevermind for a second that this is the last thing I expect out of her mouth as we go out to get breakfast. At what level is she imagining herself doing this? She has some concept that police officers and fire fighters save people, but she didn't say that. We also think she has a pretty good concept of right and wrong. When I consider what she could possibly mean by this, what I am left with is this: She wants to do good, and she wants help by stopping the people who do bad things to begin with.

I don't think that is such a stretch for a four year old, and it fills me with so much pride to see how consientious she is becoming. Now, at four years of age concepts of right and wrong are pretty straight forward; black and white. Where Christine and I have or work cut out for us is how to explain the large areas of grey as her thinking becomes more sophisticated and yet leave enough space for her to form her own opinions as she gets older? I'm actually looking forward to those times (but not too much...hey, I want time to slow down a bit 'cause it's movin' a little too fast for me.)

What will her reaction be once she understand the times we live in? What will she think about having to scrifice civil liberties in the name of domestic security? What will her opinion be of fanatics who blow up buildings to make a point? How frustrated will she be by how previous generations left her buried under trillions of dollars of national debt, unchecked social inequalities, a power hungry political system corrupted by money and powerful interests, an unafforable healthcare system, and a rampant political polarization?

What will she do when the bad guys look just like the good guys?.....